canon surprise?

[hugodrax]

Canon must be real surprised in the sales of its 10D's never have I seen such demand for a 1500 SLR body. Rebel-G's etc would pretty much stay on the counters and EOS 1vs (Same price range as 10D) sold but not much compared to canons 1500 10D. All 5 compusas are sold out (they got 5 each) BEST buy sold 4 in 1 day and are sold out, all the local camera shops have been sold out nonstop and online requires you on a waiting list.

Typically the general consumer does not go out and spend 1.5k on camera bodies so is all this biz the traditional film SLR guys dumping bodies and going digital. If I was canon I would drop the entire filmbody line and push all digital since it sells like water in the desert. I wonder if CMOS yields are an issue causing the backorders and low inventories since they never expected such demands.

[photography By Evangelos]

I think Canon dose really knows how big of a demand there is for the 10D. I waited for 9 Days and got my 2 new 10D's from B&H in New York and am very happy with the cameras so far. This camera is the best in the 6 Pixel class and they know it. The price it on target for what you get. I see Nikon has dropped the price on the D100 but it is no canon 10D by far. I often see D100 sitting on the store shelves when there are no canons around. Most stores try to sell them but no one wants them. Wonder why? Must be lemons in the Nikon factory. The S2 is a much better camera than the D100.
But canon was the first out of the gate with it's low priced D30 and D60 and now the price buster 10D. Now lets hope for a full frame CMOS chip that’s much cheaper than the 1Ds CMOS is. I think it is on the way.

[Dan_mobile]

hugodrax wrote:
Canon must be real surprised in the sales of its 10D's never have I seen such demand for a 1500 SLR body. Rebel-G's etc would pretty much stay on the counters and EOS 1vs (Same price range as 10D) sold but not much compared to canons 1500 10D. All 5 compusas are sold out (they got 5 each) BEST buy sold 4 in 1 day and are sold out, all the local camera shops have been sold out nonstop and online requires you on a waiting list.

Typically the general consumer does not go out and spend 1.5k on camera bodies so is all this biz the traditional film SLR guys dumping bodies and going digital. If I was canon I would drop the entire filmbody line and push all digital since it sells like water in the desert. I wonder if CMOS yields are an issue causing the backorders and low inventories since they never expected such demands.

Canon is not surprised. I would safely assume Canon’s marketing research is pretty close to the demand numbers for the 10D. The numbers are not surprising if you followed the evolution (or revolution) of high performance digital camera’s. A digital SLR that cost $30,000 just a few years ago is now available for $1,500 to $3,000 and better in almost every aspect. Surprising? Not really. Almost every consumer product based on microprocessor technology has run the same timeline. From desktop computers, to microwave ovens, to big screen TVs, and now digital cameras. The demand is high because currently no other company can match Canon’s price/performance offering and Canon’s previous pro-consumer product, the D60, had production problems and was never able to scale up manufacturing. I’m sure Canon is manufacturing 10D’s by the tens of thousands. But demand will subside as the D60 residual plus new customer bolus is fulfilled. I’m sure Canon is manufacturing as many as they can without expanding capacity so large that it becomes cost prohibited. Someday digital will outpace film. In fact the latest PMA numbers show sales number between film and digital dead even with digital on a fast expansion ramp. But that still means one-half of a multi billion dollar market is film. I don’t think Canon will give that market up soon.
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[justme_dc]

Dan_mobile wrote:
In fact the latest PMA numbers show sales number between film and digital dead even with digital on a fast expansion ramp. But that still means one-half of a multi billion dollar market is film. I don’t think Canon will give that market up soon.


I agree with Dan, I now have a 10D but you can't force feed Digital to clients. Until nobody wants Chromes I'll still be shooting with my film cameras and those film cameras will be canons.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I hope Canon is surprised,. but they should not be! With the D-30 and the D-60 a year later Canon had trouble filling its orders,. by now I would have thought they would have learned the lesson!

... but no,.. (granted I believe that the demand for the 10D is far higher than the D30/D60 was) But even so,. If Canon is not surprised, as you say,. then why can't they keep up?

I only say all this as by the time I was ready to afford the 10D,. THEY WERE ALL GONE! I was lucky to find one at 1499.00 two days ago. (thanks to tips on this forum) :) But for over a week I was really frustrated!

I think it is remarkable how hard it is right now to give Canon $1,500.00 of our hard earned cash!!!! :)

[Dans_D60]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
I hope Canon is surprised,. but they should not be! With the D-30 and the D-60 a year later Canon had trouble filling its orders,. by now I would have thought they would have learned the lesson!

... but no,.. (granted I believe that the demand for the 10D is far higher than the D30/D60 was) But even so,. If Canon is not surprised, as you say,. then why can't they keep up?

I only say all this as by the time I was ready to afford the 10D,. THEY WERE ALL GONE! I was lucky to find one at 1499.00 two days ago. (thanks to tips on this forum) :) But for over a week I was really frustrated!

I think it is remarkable how hard it is right now to give Canon $1,500.00 of our hard earned cash!!!! :)

Economics 101 .. supply and demand. You waited a week - Hmmmm let’s take a look at some popular consumer items -- Mini Cooper S $25,000 – six months wait, Infinity G35 Coupe $37,000 – two months wait, Canon EOS D60 $2,000– four months to never, Canon EOS 10D $1,500 – 2-4 week wait. Why can’t these manufacturers keep up? Because demand outstrips supply. I don’t know what lesson Canon should learn? In these horrible economic times where another 450,000 persons filed for unemployment in the U.S. during this week alone and most companies continue to bleed red ink, Canon posted another 18% quarterly growth in camera sales. A company that continues to invest into R&D and take risks (the first to bring CMOS and affordable SLR to the consumer), demonstrates a tack record of profit and growth, etc., what lesson???

[CyberDyneSystems]

Did not mean to spark controversy,. sorry.

The lesson being that people seem to want to actually buy these digital SLRs when Canon releases them. And yet three years in a row it seems Canon is caught off guard by how many people actually want them?

Of course they know what they are doing as you say,. but to someone inexperienced in economics 101, who was just itching to get there hands on one of these fine cameras, it just seems like the same bad planning three years in a row?

[droosan]

Canon knew there would be high demand. They knew they wouldn't be able to fill all initial orders instantly. But profit isn't simply a result of units sold. You have to also consider production costs. If Canon had built production lines which could satisfy the initial 10D demand spike, after a couple weeks or months, that initial demand spike would have been met. Canon would then be sitting on expensive underused production lines.

There's a balance. But the bottom line is that there is more profit and less risk in under-production, than there is in over-production.